Tag Archives: Angaza

Stanford-educated Lesley Silverthorn is making her mark designing low-end electronics that have thus far been overlooked by manufacturers. She and her Angaza Design engineer and items such as solar powered cell phone chargers and lamps for those living off the power grid in the developing areas of the globe, are among her inventions. This summer, Angaza Design shipped its initial batch of products to Uganda, India and Afghanistan.

Despite selling to those who have traditionally been underserved, the 25-year-old Silverthorn believes she will be a success. “It’s a little bit different because you’re operating on higher volume, lower margins than you would if you were selling to the U.S. But it’s an incredibly large market opportunity,” Silverthorn said in this Bloomberg Businessweekarticle.

Worldwide, according to Angaza Design’s website, more than 1.5 people do not have access to electricity. To compensate for this lack of power from the grid, these people rely on kerosene and expensive batteries for light. Silverthorn believes that the products of her design shop are not only more efficient and cheaper than batteries and kerosene, they are actually much cheaper.

The Angaza SoLite

The products would best help those living off the grid from its SoLite which is said to be 65 times brighter than kerosene with its charging stations powered by the sun. Due to Angaza’s unique vision and goal to help those who need it the most, it has caught the notice of many in the media. BusinessWeek, the Huffington Post and the Silicon Valley Business Journal have all written about Silverthorn and Angaza.